A drug-addict who tried to mug a woman in Birkenhead was caught after he was chased down by a heroic postman.

Allan Wilson, 36, was jailed for 22 months at Liverpool Crown Court after he attacked the woman on Old Chester Road, Birkenhead, as she waited for her morning bus to work.

He grabbed the handbag strap over her shoulder, but she refused to let go and after a tug of war ended up being dragged to the pavement, where she lay screaming.

Fortunately two separate postmen heard her cries, prompting Wilson, who was on licence from a prison sentence for drugs and burglary offences, to scarper.

The closest postman, Kenneth Dawson, went over to check on the victim and then chased after Wilson when other passers-by came to help, said Rob Jones, prosecuting.

As Wilson was being pursued along an alleyway he turned round and threw a couple of punches at Mr Dawson, before running off again. By that stage the other postman, Gary Branscombe, was at the other end of the alley.

Mr Dawson “ran after him again and this time caught up with him and jumped on his back”, said Mr Jones.

“They both fell to the floor and he was able to restrain him pending the arrival of Mr Branscombe.”

The police had been alerted and an officer quickly arrived and arrested Wilson.

When interviewed, he said that he was on the way to Birkenhead to get some clothes and had acted on impulse in grabbing the handbag, having gone back to using heroin.

The victim sustained an injury to her left knee, bruising to her shoulder and pain in her right ankle. In an impact statement she said that she had caught the bus from that stop on her way to work for 25 years but now prefers to get a lift from a colleague.